Maybe it was the sudden cooling of the weather, but I had a hankering for a Latin cocktail. Thinking longingly of pisco sours, a limey, egg white-frothy concoction involving the Peruvian hooch pisco, I steered my friend and I towards Augusto al Gusto in Verdun. There’s a connection to the long-standing Peruvian resto Villa Wellington, across the street and down the block; Chef Augusto is one of the sons of Villa Wellington’s owners.

The menu doesn’t boast the range of iconic Peruvian dishes, like papa a la huancaina (cheese-smothered potatoes) or anticuchos de pollo (grilled chicken hearts), but why repeat what Villa Wellington does? Augusto’s menu is simple and clear. There are lots of chicken dishes, spicy spaghetti and shrimp, shrimp-stuffed avocado, steak, guacamole, tamales. And a list of basic wines, which we opted for when we didn’t see the yearned-for pisco sours. While waiting, we nibbled on addictive thin, crisp tortilla chips with homemade salsa.

Though the restaurant was partly empty when we sat down, before long it was filled, giving the room a warmth that wasn’t obvious at first. There were lots of families with babies, all treated kindly. Extra high chairs were obligingly fetched, we overheard the waiter ask if ice in the water glass was okay for a table’s two-year-old.

A sucker for ceviche, we ordered the mixed – a generous plate with chunks of mahi-mahi (reasonably sustainable), some squid and shrimp, topped with a mess of purple onion slices. The tang of the lime marinade blended with the salt of the fish liquor to produce a whitish leche de tigre, i.e., tiger’s milk, pooling in the bowl. A soft chunk of sweet potato was pleasant to mash up with the juices and eat with the onion.

Portion size alert: Our hunger had been sizably sated already, then the mains came. My tacu-tacu, an Afro-Peruvian dish of beans and rice, was as hefty as it was flavourful. I’d been warned that the version with steak and egg was for very serious eaters, so I’d opted for the grilled chicken.

My friend’s paella was a Machu Picchu-sized mound of rice and seafood, with clear oceanic tastes. We couldn’t resist ordering a side of gorgeous, golden, thick-cut fries, as pleasing to the palate as to the eye.

We had absolutely no room for a sweet, such as the churros (a rippled tube of sugared fried dough) or the alfajores (caramel between two biscuits). As we got up to pay and look at the Peruvian tchotkes for sale in the back, we saw a poster for pisco sours. What? Turns out they’re not written on the menu, but regulars know to ask. So, dear reader, when you go, order one and think of me.

Augusto al Gusto
4578 Wellington; 514-769-5885
Meal for two: $40-$60
www.augustoalgusto.com